Maybe lightning does strike twice in the same place, or at least when it comes to spotting new cardinals in the wild. After finding my first lazuli buntings migrating through my Prescott neighborhood last weekend, I was fortunate to find western tanagers in nearby Watson Woods. While the buntings were indeed a first for me, what distinguishes my encounter with the tanagers is I actually got my first good photographs of this colorful bird.
The western tanager migrates from Mexico and Central America like a lot of cardinals, and like the blue grosbeak this species regularly breeds in the Prescott area. Over the past couple years I've seen several flashes of yellow high in our cottonwoods and even once got a distant and grainy shot that showed his flaming red head. But Sunday's walk in Watson Woods rewarded me with several encounters with at least one male that was patient and close enough to let me get my best photographs yet.
An interesting fact is that he breeds farther north than any other bird in his family, regularly venturing into Canada's Northwest Territories. So the individuals we find during Arizona's hot summer don't seem to fly quite as far. But these slowpokes were a gift to a local birder that got to enjoy a feels-like-the-first-time cardinal encounter.
The western tanager migrates from Mexico and Central America like a lot of cardinals, and like the blue grosbeak this species regularly breeds in the Prescott area. Over the past couple years I've seen several flashes of yellow high in our cottonwoods and even once got a distant and grainy shot that showed his flaming red head. But Sunday's walk in Watson Woods rewarded me with several encounters with at least one male that was patient and close enough to let me get my best photographs yet.
An interesting fact is that he breeds farther north than any other bird in his family, regularly venturing into Canada's Northwest Territories. So the individuals we find during Arizona's hot summer don't seem to fly quite as far. But these slowpokes were a gift to a local birder that got to enjoy a feels-like-the-first-time cardinal encounter.
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